Tag Archives: Toulouse

After a week of international duties, the OM squad are back in action against Mediterranean neighbours, Toulouse. With both sides having lost their last Ligue 1 game 1-2, they will both be keen to get their season back on track. Marseille had a very good start picking up 3 wins from three before the Monaco defeat, in stark contrast to Toulouse who have yet to win, although they did manage a more than respectable draw away with Monaco in week 3.

Marseille

After an excellen first half diaply against Monaco, Elie Baup will hope to inspire his squad into a full 90 minute performance. Improvements must be made in defence, and hopes are that Payet’s poor performance in the last few games is not a permanent dip in form.

Diawara is not part of the squad, after his injury in the Monaco game and Andrew Ayew returned from international duty with Ghana injured. However the team will be buoyed with inclusion of new signings Mario Lemina and Florian Thauvin, the latter likely to start given Ayew’s absence.

Alain Cassanova’s side are looking for their first win of the season and have also only managed 1 goal every other game, so hopefully the shaky OM defence may get a slight break compared to facing Falcao and co last time out.

It should be noted that traditionally Toulouse are a solid team, therefore goals may not necessarily come easy for OM, and should TFC breech the Marseille hull, the home side would defend resolutely so it could be a tougher game than it initially appears. Toulouse will hope that new signing Chentome can bring out the best of Ben Yedder and help strengthen TFC when going forwards.

Summary
So early in the season this could be a make or break game for both sides. A win for OM and it keeps them in contention with psg and Monaco, showing that they do still have some title credentials. A loss may show them to being just, one of the best of the rest. Equally a loss for Toulouse, could signal them as being a side in real trouble this season.

Stats
Marseille are unbeaten in their last 6 trips to Toulouse.

Marseille have only lost twive in their last 16 ligue games.

Gignac has scored 22 goals at the Stade Municipal, more than any other.

Having restored some pride midweek with a 2-1 victory over Bastia, Marseille travel to Toulouse hoping to put themselves joint top of the ligue ahead of the psg v Lyon game on Sunday evening. Despite not having the greatest overall record over Toulouse away from home, Marseille have the better of recent records having last lost their 7 games ago in 2007. After a solid start to the season, much like OM, Toulouse made it as high as 3rd place after a 3-1 win over Brest in week 10. Having only lost one game by that point, TFC have subsequently lost 5 and only one once, although that was an emphatic 3-0 win over ligue leaders Lyon!

Marseille –

With the defensive midfield being made up with questionable performances from Kabore, and Abdullah filling in where possible, Elie Baup will be pleased to welcome back Benoit Cheyrou from injury and suspension. Baup was also able to welcome back early season star man, Andre-Pierre Gignac against Bastia and APG managed a 5 minute cameo at the end. Cheyrou may be in-line for a start, but Gignac will be more likely to remain on the bench against his former employers.

Having performed as a team again against Bastia, Baup may keep the same starting 11, the other option being to drop Abdullah for the fit again Cheyrou. With both Remy and Gignac relatively fit again, this could be Jordan Ayew’s final chance to prove himself and keep his team mates out of the starting 11 having now failed to find the net in 4 matches. Either way it is likely that Gignac and Remy will manage some pitch time. Remy, to get him ‘in the shop window’ as club looks increasingly likely to offload him, and Gignac, to gain some pitch time ahead of the final game ahead of the winter break, next Sunday’s clash against Saint-Etienne.

Predicted line-up and formation:

Who are they? –

Having started the season well, Alain Cassanova will be looking for a positive end from his players in the first half of the season. They currently sit only 7 points above the relegation zone, and with TFC playing 18th placed Sochaux next week, they really could be dragged into a relegation battle. This is something that would have been unthought-of of earlier this season, but their form after week 9 sees them sitting 17th in the table.

Alain Cassanova only has doubts over AYmen Adbennour and Moussa Sissoko as he chooses from a full strength squad that welcomes back Etienne Didot after a one match ban.

Jordan Ayew is likely to have his work cut out for him as he faces up against the in-form Etienne Capoue. Capoue is good in the air and on the floor and has a good positional sense too. Ayew will have to use some of his sometimes juvenile unpredictability in order to succeed against Capoue. Toulouse sit 7th and 8th in the defensive and attacking tables respectively, both 1 place ahead of OM, showing that despite recent form, they are more defensively astute and can grab goals consistently too. Many of these goals, particularly home ones have come from this seasons surprise package Wissam Ben Yedder. 7 of his 9 goals have come at Toulouse’ Stadium and his versatility sees him netting goals from dribbles, shots and surprisingly headers too. This is down to his excellent positional sense, so he must be watched closely when TFC are on the attack.

Summary:

This is hopefully a good time for Marseille to play Toulouse, given their recent run of form, particularly if the Lyon game is omitted. If Marseille play as they have in their last 3 wins, then they should win this game, but they need to break this ligue run of loss (0-1 Bordeaux), win (1-0 Lille), loss (1-4 Lyon), win (2-1 Brest), loss (0-3 Lorient), win (2-1 Bastia). If they can do this it really adds heat to the psg v Lyon game on Sunday evening too, with the winners having every chance of starting the winter break in 1st place.

After the midweek set of matches the draw was made on Wednesday evening for the next round of the Coupe de la Ligue, and it certainly did not disappoint for those who were eagerly waiting to see if Marseille could make it an unprecedented 4 titles in a row in the competition. Marseille were drawn away to psg in what was surely the pick of the round.
The game will be played in Paris just over 3 weeks after the two teams meet in Marseille in the Ligue. psg will undoubtedly wish to stop Marseille from winning the trophy for the 4th time in row and will hope that they can effectively buy their own piece of history, just as they are trying in the Ligue.
Below is around up of all the Couoe de la Ligue games, which will be played over the 30th-31st October.

Marseille knew that they would face a still challenge in Alain Casssanova’s in-form Toulouse outfit, and this prediction wasn’t far wrong. They came to Le Stade Velodrome with a well-oiled game-plan and some nice controlled tactics which pretty much suffocated OM throughout the whole match, especially in the 2nd half. Continue reading →

Having tasted defeat for the first time in 11 games last weekend away to Brest, Marseille will want to return to winning ways this Saturday against Toulouse. The defeat by Brest and draw with Valenciennes will hopefully just be a blip for Deschamps’ men who managed a hard fought win against Inter Milan between those two games. Last time these two sides met in week 10, both sides finished with 10 men and drew 0-0.

Having worked so hard to catch up with the ‘chasing pack’ of Ligue 1 teams, OM will want to make sure that they don’t slip away and miss out on the final Champions League spot, and a win against Toulouse, who are one place and one point above them will help ensure this isn’t the case. A busy schedule of fixtures has meant that Marseille will not be at full strength as they will be without Remy, Mbia and Valbuena. There was also some injury concerns around the Ayew brothers and Morel, however they are all expected to be fit enough to feature.

The game against Brest will be good preparation for this game for Marseille. Brest sat-back, countered and piled men behind the ball when not in possession. It can be expected that Toulouse will do the same and at times this season they have looked incredibly dangerous on the counter, such as in wins against Bordeaux, Nancy and Valenciennes.

Marseille must be weary of Toulouse’s style of play as they have conceded a number of goals against similar teams this season. If TFC decide to venture out of their own half they may well attack OM’s right side just as Inter did in the first half of the Champions League game. They are also likely to play dangerous through balls, the likes of which OM have struggled against a number of times this season. As much attacking threat as Toulouse offer it must be noted that they have failed to score in 8 games this season, twice as many as OM and this is potentially why their top goals scorers, Bulut and Riviere have only 4 goals each, as many as Cheyrou.

It is likely that this will be another difficult game for Marseille, playing a team that will more than likely set up happy to take a draw back with them. However, if Marseille are really expecting to pick up the final Champions League place, or be possible outside, outside title contenders then they simply must win games against Valenciennes, Brest and now Toulouse, no matter how well the opposition play or how good their respective form is. Predicted result: Marseille 1-0 Toulouse